FLASH
Shkruar nga PamfletiIn Davos, the French leader quoted "Rocky" and abandoned his conciliatory tone with the US president.
The spread of the private message was too much, even for Emmanuel Macron.
"My friend, we are completely of the same mind on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I don't understand what you are doing on Greenland," the French president wrote to Trump.
Nothing too embarrassing for Macron, in fact, he can claim to say in private what he says in public. But the very fact that Trump revealed the private correspondence, while simultaneously threatening France with a 200 percent tariff on wine, also marks a personal rift.
In yesterday's speech in Davos, delivered just hours after Trump's comments on tariffs and champagne, the French president used his harshest tone ever against the "bully," that is, the American president, although he never explicitly mentioned him.
For the first time, the dual stance chosen by Macron years ago striving for an excellent personal relationship, firmness in principles seems to be faltering, as the two camps are beginning to exclude each other and the essence of the problem is taking over. Despite the long and prolonged handshakes of the past, smiles, pats on the back and mutual invitations to "great first ladies", France and the United States find themselves in opposing positions on almost everything, from international trade to Greenland, from Ukraine to Gaza, from the environment to rules on digital platforms and artificial intelligence, to multilateralism through the UN (as Macron wants) or through Trump's nascent Peace Council.
Trump has identified France and Macron - weakened by internal political chaos and ready to leave within a year - as the weak point of the European Union. Macron knows this and is counterattacking.
From the stage in Davos, in his excellent French-accented English, Macron denounced that the United States is "openly seeking to weaken and subjugate Europe with an accumulation of unacceptable and ineffective customs duties" and pressure against the "sovereignty" of states.
Macron also showed off once again, as he has done since last Thursday, his mirrored sunglasses to protect himself from a "subconjunctival hemorrhage," a benign condition he has already mocked: "It's the eye of the tiger, a sign of France's determination."
A reference to the movie Rocky, or perhaps even to Georges Clemenceau, the "tiger" of World War I.
Macron continued, mentioning the "very powerful" trade tools that Europe must "use when they are not respected." Of course, "we need more growth. We need more stability in this world, but we prefer respect to bullies. We prefer the rule of law to brutality." After leaving the stage, Macron added to reporters: "The absurd thing is that we could find ourselves in a situation where we have to use the EU's anti-coercion mechanism for the first time against the United States. Can you imagine that? It is absurd, I'm sorry, but it is the consequence of unnecessary aggression. But we must all remain calm."
Macron's reaction comes amid considerable internal turmoil, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu still struggling to approve the budget and Marine Le Pen's appeal process entering its final stages.
The United States is closely monitoring the process: Magistrate Magali Lafourcade stated that two US administration officials met with her in 2025 to gather evidence in support of the case against Marine Le Pen as political persecution, and she notified the Quai d'Orsay, the French Foreign Ministry.
Macron will try to maintain ties with Trump, but without humiliating himself. Those who perhaps criticized him for the support he received from Trump's positions when he initially approved the Maduro operation in Venezuela may now judge him as unrealistic and ineffective.
But Europe must be held accountable, and the French president knows he cannot deny the years of "European strategic autonomy" that he theorized, asserted and pursued. In the message revealed by Trump, Macron also proposed a dinner before his return to Washington and an extraordinary G7 summit in Paris. All of this was canceled./ Corriere della Sera
Lini një Përgjigje